
Glass f^V67 



THE CRIMINAL; 



THE CRIME; THE PENALTY. 



GEORGE H. HEPWORTH. 



BOSTON: 
WALKER, FULLER, AND COMPANY, 

245, Washington Street. 
1865. 



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£"467 



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BOSTON: 
PRINTED BY JOHX AVILSON AND SON. 



C&£ Cnmhtal; % €xmt; ik Wtmliv, 



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Job iv. 8: "They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness 

REAP THE SAME." 

These words were true three thousand years ago, and they 
are equally true to-day. It has been the concurrent experi- 
ence of alleges, that wrong prevails but a little while ; and, 
though it succeed in putting on the imperial robes of power, 
it shortly comes to grief. We see a new and fearful illus- 
tration of this law, — an illustration that speaks with warnino- 
eloquence to all American citizens, in the short but ignoble 
career of that man who is at last a captive in the hands of 
justice. We look back upon the rebellion which he inaugu- 
rated, and which in crumbling is likely to bury him beneath 
its ruins, and we search in vain for a single bright spot in 
all its black darkness of cruelty and crime. Generally, in 
a vast movement of this kind, involving the welfare of so 
, many persons, one can find an excuse either in the motive 
which began it, the heroism which illustrated it, or the 
sublime courage, overcome but not conquered, which marked 
Its end. But here you read the whole tragedy through with 
an aching heart, from the first to the last act : in the plot 
and in the actors, you find no single attribute of pure, high- 
minded, revolutionary fame. 

Here is the nucleus of fact, out of Avhich the terrible 
drama has been constructed. In a certain part of our fair 



land were eight millions of persons who were mostly very 
ignorant ; but of this number there were three hundred and 
fifty thousand who assumed that they were born to be the 
dominant race. They ruled with a hand of iron. They 
owned nearly all the land ; they held, vested in their own 
persons, nearly all the political power of the region. Their 
real estate stretched from the Atlantic to the Mississippi ; 
and their personal property consisted of four millions of hu- 
man beings. They allowed no schools to be built : they en- 
acted laws making it a criminal offence to teach a black child 
the alphabet. Without the sanction of any law, they mobbed 
any man who dared by word or hint to criticise their institu- 
tions. These three hundred and fifty thousand self-elected 
lords of men and lands sent to "Washington certain shrewd 
and unprincipled men whose business was to acquire a domi- 
nant influence over the resources and politics of the whole 
country. In order to this accomplishment, they used every 
means which genius or bravado could devise ; but the good 
God protected us, and they were unsuccessful. Then, Avith 
theatric gesture, and with loud words of menace, they left 
the halls of Congress. Every true man breathed a little 
freer in their absence, though the storm-clouds were gath- 
ering, and the aAvful hour of trial approached. 

These men then went from village to town, and from 
hamlet to city, until, by systematic exaggeration and false- 
hood, the populace were roused to such a pitch that blood 
must flow before the troubled waters could grow calm again. 
Mind you, — for this is an important point, — these people 
were not thus fired to self-sacrifice by any great wrongs 
which they, in their own persons or property, had suffered 
at our hands. They were stirred by the eloquence of trea- 
son, and of traitors who dared not tell them, that the Gov- 
ernment had offered to do all which justice to the whole 
people might demand in order to avert a resort to the bloody 
arbitrament of war ; and that the offer was spurned by these 



ambitious demagogues, who hoped to fill their coffers and to 
grasp fame by standing on the black ruins of betrayed repub- 
licanism. Oh, no ! they did not tell the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth. Had they done so, their 
constituency would have unseated them at once. 

For two years this unnatural enthusiasm lasted. I use 
the word enthusiasm, but it is hardly appropriate. Frenzy 
is a word which better expresses the condition of the South- 
ern mind. Under its influence, battles were won ; but the 
victory was almost always stained by some act of cruelty 
or vengeance, which told us that the soldiers of the Confed- 
eracy were not revolutionists as our own past history defines 
the word, but only rebels and outlaws. After the first two 
years, — during which the calm tide, calm but omnipotent 
in its oceanic swell, of Northern patriotism rose higher and 
higher, — the frenzy of the South spent itself. It partly 
waked to a consciousness of the Aveakness of its cause, and 
once in a while it caught a glimpse of the fact that it had 
been deceived and duped by unprincipled leaders. At last, 
after a series of continuous and signal ' defeats stretching 
through twice twelve months more, their rights trodden 
upon by those at Richmond who- should have been their 
foremost defenders, robbed of their money by the State 
Treasurer, and by extortionate taxes, crushed by the des- 
potic laws of a Congress as unprincipled as the Venetian 
Council of Ten, their sons dead, their grayhaired old men 
conscripted, and sent with tottex'ing step into the battle, to 
fall before the vigor of Union troops, their trade destroyed, 
their cities laid in ashes, all weary, worn, and dispirited by 
the profitless contest, they demanded of their generals an 
immediate surrender to the Government of the United 
States. 

Well, brethren, we knew it would come to this at last. 
The laws of political gravitation are irresistible. Our flag 
was always the stronger and the better of the two, and we 
. 1* 



6 



had faith that ultimately it would prevail. We have never, 
however, read a more bitter, dreary, and witless story than 
that which I have just told you. I know that many Avill 
tell us there is a brighter side to the picture. I am aware 
that the Confederacy put on its best countenance and its best 
colors ; but, like the veiled prophet of Korassan, though thei-e 
Avas a false blaze of light about its face when it enjoyed the 
fulness of its power, in its last hour the veil was rent away, 
and the loathsome thing appeared with its natural face and in 
its fitting costume. That the veil was rent away, and that 
the rebellion in dying has made unwilling confession of its 
own turpitude, is another signal proof of that Providence 
which has protected every onward step of these four years 
of woe. We can never be too thankful for the last two 
points in the great tragedy. Suppose, for an instant, that 
Booth, when, the fatal deed accomplished which robbed a 
continent of her purest statesman, he strode upon the stage, 
and brandished the knife, and shouted " Sic semper tyran- 
nis," instead of skulking away, and hiding for days in 
swamps, and disgviising himself in various ways, — like any 
coward who has done a deed the remembrance of which 
frightens him, — had shown that he believed himself in the 
right, and that he was equal to all the consequences of his 
act, by plunging the dagger into his own heart, and dying in 
the presence of the audience, — he would have gone down 
to history as a strangely misguided fanatic, Avith some little 
coloring of inspiration about his name, as did Charlotte 
Corday. 

Suppose, again, that Jefferson Davis, when it Avas as- 
certained beyond a doubt that the rebel stronghold must 
fall, and the army retreat to the mountains, Avhen Lee, sur- 
rounded and hemmed in by an invincible cordon of brave 
men, gave up his sword and his command to General Grant ; 
I say suppose that at that time Mr. Davis had said, as any 
really true revolutionist Avould have said, " My cause is gone. 



I believed that I could free my country, could lead my peo- 
ple to independence, a higher prosperity and better laws than 
they have been able to enjoy heretofore. But I have failed. 
I throw myself upon the magnanimity of the American 
people." What would have been the result ? The pen of 
the historian would hardly have placed him in the niche 
he is now likely to occupy. His last hour would have 
excused many an act of cruelty, and he would have been 
made a hero in spite of justice. 

But neither of these things were to be. Booth stands 
before us in the attitude of a cowardly murderer. There is 
nb single redeeming point in all his career. Davis will go 
forth as an adventurer, basely using delegated power, and 
richly meriting the end which awaits him. That the 
rebellion has thus made confession of its iniquity is matter 
of great thanksgiving. We shall say of it, and say truly, 
that it was born in ambition, and that it died in infamy. 
Its whole history will be told in the bass-relief which should 
be placed upon its tombstone, — a petticoat and a bowie- 
knife. These are the symbols of weakness and cruelty ; 
and they truly tell the story of him who was not ashamed to 
use the one in public, or the other in private. 

But let us look a little more closely, and see if Ave can 
read the lesson which this tragedy teaches. 

I want to speak for a few minutes upon the nature of 
the crime. I mean, of course, the crime of rebellion. I 
am not heated, brethren, by any partisan fervor ; nay, I am 
not urged to this criticism by any spirit of vengeance, 
which might naturally sway the judgment as memory recalls 
the hundreds of thousands of graves wliich this man has 
caused to be dug, — graves so dear to you and to me, because 
there repose the brave who once blessed our homes by their 
sunny presence ; yet I dare say, that this generation has 
produced no single individual of such prominent badness as 
Jefferson Davis. Let the tender heart of Mercy look upon 



him, and she will turn aside to weep that the humanity of 
an American citizen can fall so low. Let Justice look him 
steadily in the eye, and explore his life, his dark designs, 
his cruel machinations ; and she frowns upon the whole com- 
munity that will endure his presence, except as a manacled 
captive. I have tried to believe that the man was simply a 
wild fanatic; that somewhere in his own heart could be 
found a kind of belief that he was not Avholly wrong in hia 
course, — but in vain. Study his public career; read his 
speeches in Congress, his words to his constituents ; watch 
the animus of the mdn, his cunning, his propensity to use men 
in unprincipled ways, — and you will soon reach the con- 
clusion, that he is not a broad, deep, large-minded statesman ; 
one who loves An^erica, good government, and equal laws ; 
but simply a greedy, ambitious politician ; a man after the 
style of Wolsey, who hungered and thirsted for power, and 
whose vaulting ambition, regardless of the character of the 
means by which ends were reached, at last overleaped itself. 
I think this will be the criticism of the gentlemen of Con- 
gress who knew him most intimately, and listened with 
aching hearts to his bitter, menacing words in 1860, when, 
his plans complete, his accomplices all numbered, he foretold 
the doom of the American Government, and went forth to 
his work of evil. 

But, says some one, it is easy enough to say all this, now 
that he has failed. Failures are never eulogized, and un- 
successful men seldom receive pity. Had he only suc- 
ceeded, he would now be a hero instead of a captive. No ! 
a thousand times no ! my brother. It is without doubt true 
that the pomp of a triumphant cause does affect the mind, 
and in some degree modify the judgment. But let it be 
understood distinctly, that, if Jefferson Davis had succeeded, 
the government he would have established would have been, 
in its want of the true principles of a Christian political 
economy, a consummate disgrace to his country. Can any 



9 



degree of success, can all the pomp and circumstance of 
triumph, hide the fact, that fetters for human limbs, that a 
division and subdivision of the community into as many- 
clans as marked the old Feudal times, were to be the 
corner-stones of the new power ? Are we so base, is the 
world sunk so low, that it cannot discriminate between good 
and evil ? No : success must mean the good of the people ; 
it must mean better laws, and more just relations between 
man and man, between labor and capital, between class and 
class, or this age will not recognize it. Had this criminal, 
through any mischance on our part, secured a piece of 
ground on which to build a dynasty of his own, he would 
have darkened the page of history, and thrown a shadow 
upon the beauty and enlightenment of our time. He and 
his cause have been involved in one prodigious ruin by the 
Union army, aided and encouraged by the irresistible spirit 
of the century. 

And, brethren, he, the criminal, is to be tried and con- 
demned, not merely by the military commission convened at 
"Washington, but also by the ideas, the aspirations, the ten- 
dencies, of the historic hour. I summon him to the bar, to 
answer to certain charges preferred by the current thought 
of the times. He shall be tried in the vast court-room of 
this nineteenth century, and he stands in its presence indicted 
for treason against the best interests of humanity. Justice 
and Mercy shall be his senior and junior counsel. Let 
them plead, the one with all his love of right, the other with 
all the eloquence of charity ; and, if he be acquitted, never 
will I utter a word against the verdict. 

Here, in this court-room, upon our right, shall sit the 
great political minds of the age ; the men who have grasped 
the thought of the hour, who have studied the hungry wants 
of the people ; who know their capacity for liberty and self- 
government, and who have devoted their lives to so influ- 
ence legislation that these heavinsr masses should be lifted 



10 



thereby. These men will judge righteously, and no loyal 
soul need fear theii* verdict. 

Here, upon the left, shall sit the reformers of the time. 
They are a noble company, a little quick in judgment per- 
haps, somewhat given to denunciation, but sturdy, steadfast 
friends of all successful and all unsuccessful endeavors on 
the part of society to change its condition for the better. 
These men deal with the foremost thought of the age. They 
are sharp-sighted to discover any way, either by dissolution 
of existing modes of government, or by the establishment of 
separate powers, to improve the world. Surely no just cause 
need dread their criticism. No rebellion will be denounced 
by them, simply because it is a rebellion. They will only 
ask for its central thought ; and, if that be true, their ap- 
proval will be had at once. 

Here, again, at the end of the court-room, shall sit the 
philanthropists, — a glorious assemblage of good men, Avho 
have proved their fealty by years of sacrifice, and devotion to 
their country. They are the men who, loving the masses, 
trusted and loved by the masses, are as fit as any others to 
pass sentence upon any new theory of government. Their 
hands are always upon the people's pulse and the peo- 
ple's heart; and they will be unfalteringly faithful to any 
man or any law that promises to strengthen the moral sen- 
timent, or to add to the intelligence of the State. Thus 
shall be constituted the Supreme Bench who shall judge this 
cause. 

And here, covering the vast arena, croAvding together with 
mingled curiosity and wonder, shall stand the whole people. 
They shall constitute the jury in this trial. Let all the wit- 
nesses be examined before them. Let them understand 
Avhat this man would have done, had he succeeded in his 
great adventures. Surely he need not fear their verdict ; 
for he has more than once asserted, that he intended to 
establish the best order of society known to man. 



11 



Stand forth, criminal ! and plead your cause before this 
august tribunal. You have nothing to fear, unless you fear 
justice. Let all your eloquence come to your aid ; for upon 
the verdict hangs honor or infamy for evermore. If, listen- 
ing to your story, told with all the cunning of a glittering 
rhetoric, you can persuade them to say, " Not Guilty," you 
shall take position beside the great and good who have gladly 
died for liberty : but, if you fail in this, and they see only a 
bad heart that betrayed the Christ of Freedom for forty 
pieces of silver, beware their verdict of " Guilty ; " for the 
second Judas can hope for no better fate than the first. 

Brethren, as the prisoner stands at the bar, meeting the 
gaze of the world, the mind naturally asks the question, Who 
is this man ? Has he heretofore been one of us, or is he the 
product of another clime where rebellions are deemed bene- 
fits ? Would that I might offer even this excuse for him. 
Would that I might say, this death and woe is not the work 
of an American citizen, but of a foreign enemy who has 
stolen his way into the affections of the people that he might 
the better betray them. But I cannot. I must confess, that 
the great crime was conceived and executed by one who was 
fitted by natural capacity, and by education, to be one of our 
strongest friends ; and who would have never swerved from 
his allegiance to his country, had he possessed a single spark 
of gratitude. It is a humiliating confession, that the man 
who has played us false owes all he has, and all he Avas be- 
fore the fatal deed, to that Government which folded its 
protecting arms about him at the very moment when he 
was meditating her destruction. Jefferson Davis, like many 
another man who has risen to eminence, was born in hum- 
ble circumstances. Had not the inspiring breath of a free 
and active and progressive people reached him, he might, 
even now, be enjoying the obscurity from which his country 
lifted him to honor. He was educated at the Government 
expense, at West Point. The expense thus incurred by you 



n 



and me and all of us, tliat he might learn the military art, 
was cheerfully paid, with the distiuct understanding, that, if 
ever trouble should come to this people, and the foreign in- 
vader should tread upon our soil, or the civil rebellion 
unfurl its blood-red banner, this man should rush to the 
rescue, and, standing in the front rank of our defenders, 
fight the foe to the last, and, if need be, die upon the field. 
The' knowledge hoAv to use the sword, and how to wield 
large bodies of men, was consecrated in the most solemn 
manner to the benefit of American institutions. Base, base 
ingratitude ! But let us not think of it, lest the accumulation 
of crime, which increases at every step we take, unfit us for 
our duty as impartial judges. Let us rather forget all we 
can ; and ever enough will remain, of which we dare not be 
unmindful, to rouse the deepest feelings of the heart. 

He was raised to many a post of honor by his constitu- 
ency, and at last took his seat in the halls of Congress, the 
political Holy of Holies, where every statesman speaks and 
votes with the responsibilities of future ages pressing upon 
him. Before he darkened those high places with the shadow 
of his treachery, he lifted his right hand towards high hea- 
ven, and impiously kissed the book of Sacred Writ ; swear- 
ing — not upon his honor as a weak man, but by his belief in 
the Almighty One whose name he was even then pro- 
faning ; and calling upon the justice of Heaven to mete out 
to him his reward if he proved false to his trust — to use all 
his influence, in private and in public, to strengthen the laws, 
to increase the power, and to hallow the liberty of American 
republicanism. His constituency expected this of him ; we 
expected it of him, and the country that had educated him 
demanded it. How has he fulfilled our hopes ! how has he 
labored in our behalf! For what good law are we indebted 
to him ? Is there one ? I would that there were a single one, 
that we might hang thereon on some little word of excuse, 
some mite of sympathy. "Was there ever before a criminal 



13 



who did not have a single friend ; who could not point to 
some part of his career, and say, " Look at that : then I 
acted the part of a true man ; then I was generous or charit- 
able or self-denying : think of it when you pass judgment " ? 

But again I say, brethren, we must not dwell too long 
upon these dark pages ; for, loving our country, which is our 
home, our children's home, the home of all the hopes that 
are dearest to humanity, we shall be so stiiTcd that some- 
thing of passionate indignation — which is just, indeed, but 
which ought to be restrained just now, lest we fail to secure 
the end of exact justice — may influence our calm judgment. 

Let us, then, name the several crimes of which this man 
is accused. 

First, We impeach him in the omnipotent name of the 
people of this Republic, as being a deliberate conspirator 
against a Government which, on the whole, — though there 
are many parts which we would gladly alter, — is the best 
the sun shines upon. And, furthermore, we assert, that the 
prisoner has attempted this subversion, not in the interest of 
mankind, and for the sake of opening up a larger liberty, 
but with the hope of limiting the liberty already attained, 
and building a government and an order of society out of 
which the people have found their way by means of the 
struggles of three hundred years. It will be proven against 
this man, that for the last thirty years he has been actuated 
by this base purpose ; that it has never once left his mind ; 
that he-has used every inducement to persuade men of influ- 
ence to enter into the conspiracy with him ; that he has sanc- 
tioned, and by his speech aided in the organization of, a secret 
society whose membership extended from the Gulf of Mexico 
to the Lakes, — for we must confess even here, that the 
Republic has found secret emissaries of the slave power in 
Northern villages and cities ; that, by means of this society, 
he has endeavored to create an antagonism between the 
public opinion of the two sections. Is it a little thing for 

2 



14 



a cherished member of our common household, — one who 
outwardly, in public speech, and while men were Avatching, 
could so alter his natural face that he smiled approvingly 
upon all our labors for the common good ; one whom we 
trusted with power which is to be confided only to long-tried 
servants, — I say, is it a little thing for such a one, while 
all the family holds him to its heart, and says its prayers for 
him at night, to steal into the darkness when good men are 
asleep, and mine the sacred edifice with the intent to bury 
house and inmates beneath one common ruin, while he en- 
riched himself upon the debris? It is almost incredible. 
Such deep-dyed treachery harmonizes well enough with the 
history of the semi-barbarous nations of the middle ages ; but 
can so great a criminal be found to-day, — to-day, brethren, 
— and within the charmed circle of American life ? Alas ! 
in heaven itself was found one who could not be content with 
the glories of the Omnipotent ; who looked with envy upon 
his Creator ; and who, with a few frenzied followers, dared 
dispute the authority of the Supreme. But for that fact we 
would not believe this. I shrink with horror, while I am 
overwhelmed at the justice of the sentence, as I see the first 
rebel toppling from his unhallowed height, and, falling from 
night till morn, from morn till dewy eve, reach at last the 
punishment which awaits that criminal for whom there is 
no mercy, even in God's bosom ; and Avhen I look upon you, 
O second rebel ! like, too like, unto the first in the blackness 
of your deed, I say. What can you hope for ? 

This man — is it not so, fi-iends? — time and again intro- 
duced questions in Congress, with no other hope except to 
stir up the already excited passions of North and South. 
Instead of using his proud position and his great influence 
to increase fraternal feeling, to hide or cure old wounds, he 
was for ever probing our sore places ; for ever reminding us 
that there were differences between us ; and for ever saying, 
that the time was already at hand Avhen we must separate. 



15 



His object was to compel the North to strike the first blow. 
Even he, for a time, shrank from the overt act, though the 
treason was burning in his heart. He seems like an unnatu- 
ral son, who has lifted his hand and the fatal knife against 
his mother ; her who gave him life ; who watched over him 
in years of infancy ; who has prayed for and helped him 
ever since ; and who cannot, cannot for a moment, (what a 
moment that must be ! ) strike the blow ; for the thick flood 
of dear memories comes rolling down from the past, and 
stays his hand. But it is only for a moment. Soon — 
but we must not anticipate. 

Whose heart does not ache in remembering these things ? 
Do you recall those shameful scenes in Washington, when 
the Northern statesman was continually under the censor- 
ship of the braggadocio's duelling-pistol or bowie-knife ? 
Have we not been blushing with shame for years at the in- 
decorum, the brutality, the utter want of temperance in 
word and deed, which have characterized the conventions of 
Congress ? Has not Europe looked across the Avater, and 
laughed us to scorn, and pointed the finger of contempt at 
the men who have legislated for the Republic ? " See, the 
base-born churls at one moment are lauding free speech ; 
and the next are trying to kill each other, if one chances to 
say his say about the barbarism of slavery ! " 

And, brethren, while all this was being done, we, the 
North, said not a word. Our lips were closed, our hearts 
were hushed and bleeding. We loved our country, and 
were willing to sacrifice almost any thing in order to pre- 
serve it. We heard the flag insulted, — we must make 
this confession now, for it is becoming ; and, though we 
burned to avenge it, we kept still in the name of the Union. 
Yes : we let these foul plotters pass such laws that our very 
religion was shadowed, our honor was touched, and we 
almost saw the spectral shapes of our dead forefathers com- 
ing from their graves to accuse us of cowardice. But it was 



16 



not cowardice. Let the lust four years bear witness. It 
was not cowardice : it was an overwlielming love of our 
Republic ; and a fear, lest, in the din of battle, it might, by 
some dread mischance, be destroyed. We listened to the 
counsel of the great minds at the capitol. "We heard Mr. 
Crittenden say, " I wish to God it was in my power to pre- 
serve this Union by renouncing or agreeing to give up every 
conscientious or other opinion. I might not be able to dis- 
card it from my mind : I am under no obligation to do that. 
I may retain the opinion ; but if I can do so great a good as 
to preserve my country, and give it peace, I Avill forego any 
action upon my opinion. Well, now," (turning to the few 
true men who had not quite lost their faith in God), "this 
is all that is asked of you." Did we not listen to that song 
over long ? I think the page which records the forbearance, 
the exceeding great forbearance, on the part of the North, 
will be one of the wonders of history to the next generation. 
At last, however, unable to compel us to inaugurate the 
movement of separation, this man and his fellow-traitors, 
with much loud boasting and equally loud threats, assuring 
us that they Avould yet bring their slaves into the very 
heart of New England, and call the roll, — had they done 
so, the very graves Avould have given up their dead ; and, 
though the recreant sons might not dare to lift the sword, 
the crumbling ashes of the sires, brought to life again by 
the sacrilege, would have fought the old battles a second 
time, — showed their designs by retreating from those loyal 
halls, which they were destined never to see again except as 
prisoners. Four times twelve months have gone on their 
way, — months whose history we will not recall ; and now, 
his plans all foiled, and foiled not more by the Union army 
than by the providence of God, his last cursed deed done, his 
last threat uttered, yet unrepentant, with all his damning 
guilt upon him, the criminal stands there, awaiting his sen- 
tence. 



17 



But is this all his crime ? I wish, indeed, it were. 
Enough it is for one man to bear or answer for ; but what 
comes after, to what has just been said, is as black to 
white. 

Second, "We impeach him as a wilful subverter of the best 
ideas of the century, and of the tendency of our institutions. 
If this age has any chief characteristic, it is its wider love of 
all true laws. The Christianity of to-day is richer in good 
works than that of yesterday. The great rule of right has 
claimed our allegiance ; and we believe in an ample liberty 
for all, in free speech, a free press, a free church, a free 
man. The whole current of the age's thought runs in the 
direction of the people. We take the bars down between 
class and class ; we say no man is ignoble who has ambi- 
tion ; no man is noble, unless he has a good thought and a 
good life ; and all such, of whatever clime or station, belong 
to the peerage of the nineteenth century, and have patent 
titles of nobility signed by the Almighty. 

I have studied, as carefully as my time would allow, the 
history of rebellious, to find one like this which has just been 
brought to a close, — in vain. This stands alone. From 
Wat Tyler to Robespierre, every great convulsion in which 
large numbers have been engaged, has been marked as origi- 
nating in unwarranted oppression, and as having for its 
object the good of the common people. In its centre was a 
good thought. Some bad law has been expunged ; some 
privilege, longed for, but denied by the imperial master, has 
been extorted. 

How is it with your rebellion, criminal ? Were the 
people of the South sadly oppressed by laws made by North- 
ern legislators ? Did you so deeply sympathize with their 
cause, and were you so moved by your desire after the gen- 
eral good, that you were willing to lead them through heroic 
resistance to independence and liberty ? Do we forbid you to 
build innumerable schoolhouses and churches ; to educate all 

2* 



18 



classes ; to tell them that they are freemen, and that they 
must do the deeds and live the lives of freemen, — that you 
can stay under our roof no longer, but must depart to build 
a more friendly house of your own ? Had this been so, my 
tongue would never have uttered a word of criticism. I 
would have prayed for you and for your cause. You would 
have been laboring in the cause of the country, and would 
have deserved the sympathy of all true men. 

But how different the real picture ! I scarce can bear to 
look upon it. It is too black to be looked at long. Why, 
brethren, instead of standing there in the divine attitude of 
a revolutionary hero, this man, had he but the power, would 
have destr. yed every good thought, every good law, every 
fair religion, every philanthropy of the time. He would 
have hurried us back to the superstition, the despotism, and 
the immorality of the dark ages. There is scarcely a great 
thought in the century which he would not have blotted out. 
For, had he been successful, — ah, thank God that he was 
not ! — his first act would have been to have razed to the 
ground every educational institution in the South, on the 
ground that free schools are an evil, and an educated people 
are not easily ruled. He would then have divided the com- 
munity into classes, putting himself and his compeers in 
guilt in the dominant class ; and so separating the one order 
from the other, that labor, honest labor, would for ever re- 
main a disgrace. Then he would have trimmed the religion 
— I scarce dare use the word in such connection — to suit 
his base purposes ; and if a man should ever say that 
bonds were evils, and bondage was wrong, he Avould have 
committed the unpardonable offence, and be sentenced to die 
the death. No man could be free, white or black, except the 
rulwg class ; and that would be free to all evil, but not free to 
good. 

Then he would have opened the slave-trade ; and all the 
horrors of those dreadful days which we long since thought 



19 



were ended for ever would be renewed. Yes, brethren, if 
that is the ideal of society and government, Wigfall told the 
truth, one day, when he said the sailing of the " Mayflower" 
\7as a great misfortune to the world. 

All this he would have done, had he been successful. Do 
you doubt it ? Nay : every schoolboy knows that no lan- 
guage can do justice to the government which this man 
proposed. My tongue would fail me, should I attempt to 
give you the fearful details of this plot. Mothers ! you 
would have prayed that your sons might die, that your pure 
daughters might never see the light of another day, had not 
this foul schemer been foiled. 

But, surely, we now know the whole extent of this man's 
guilt. We will believe no more. Enough has already been 
told to make us shudder that humanity can be so depraved. 
It is not credible that worse deeds than these can be done 
by man. Look again ! for we seek to know the whole 
truth. There is more to be said, — more that is black and 
damnable. 

Thirds "We impeach him for using, in the accomplishment 
of his plans, machinations most abhorrent and abominable. 
He was not satisfied with the arbitrament of honorable war- 
fare ; but resorted, as the veriest cowards always do, to the 
secret use of poisons, and other weapons of the basest men. 
He entertained at his own table men who were employed to 
burn the shipping in our harbors, and to set our hotels on 
fire ; and, as they detailed the probabilities of success, he 
grimly smiled, like a damned villian as he is. It was he 
who connived at the importation of clothing which should 
infect a whole community with an epidemic that might have 
swept like a prairie-fire through the entii-e North. There 
are mothers here who lost their sons because that man em- 
ployed such vile means. And, not satisfied with that, — be 
still our hearts ! which within the last few weeks have ached 
so many times, as the thought of our national loss came 



20 



over lis : keep down, bitter feelings ! — bitter indeed, too, too 
bitter for utterance, — be aided in and abetted tbe murder 
of President Lincoln, Tliere is too mucb reason to believe 
that this fearful deed emanated from Richmond ; that Booth 
was but the hired villain of that tragedy, — the weak tool 
used by the prisoner, who should be made to assume the 
whole responsibility of the act. 

Lastly, "We impeach him as being in his own person an 
assassin and a robber. I say, as being in his own person an 
assassin and a rohher, amenable to the laws of the land. 
See if it is not so. I do not like this recital : it is the 
bloodiest record man ever had ; but you are the injured 
party, and you should know the whole extent of the wrong 
that has been done you. You are to judge him ; and, if your 
judgment is to be just, you must read every page of this 
man's deeds in the last four years. 

From time to time, during the progress of the war, com- 
panies of our soldiers Avere captured. They were taken by 
overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and while fighting 
bravely as true men can fight. By all the rules of civilized 
warfare known to nations, these men were to be treated in such 
way that their health should not suffer thereby, — the object 
of capturing them not being to kill but to confine, and thus 
decrease the number of our forces. I need not say that the 
treatment of prisoners is generally a very delicate matter of 
honor. For the men thus captured are perfectly helpless ; 
they have no means of defending themselves, and are thrown 
entirely upon the mercy of the captors. Well, these men, 
to the number of more than fifty thousand, were transported 
from the fields of contest to the stockade in Andersonville. 
Brethren, did you love your soldier-boy, as he came to you 
one morning, his cheek all flushed with the excitement of 
patriotism, and said, " Good-by ! my country claims me 
now"? Did you love him with a love beyond that of a 
parent, as you put your hand tenderly on his head, and said, 



21 



" My boy, your country and your (^od both call ; I dare not 
say you nay. Go, and may He be unto you a shield " ? Do 
you remember that hour ? Nay, will you ever forget it ? 
Well, then, bury your head in your hands and weep as I tell 
the rest of this story : nay, bury your heart there too, if you 
can ; for, save in the cause of truth, such fearful things 
should never find utterance. But to-night I dare not tell 
you less than the truth. That boy was one of the fifty 
thousand. And they, his masters, would not let him dig 
even a hole in the ground in which to shelter himself from 
the mid-day sun. They gave him no clothing, though you 
sent it to Washington for him, and our Government held 
the written guaranty that this man's Confederacy would 
deliver it to the prisoner-boy. They refused him proper 
attendance and medicine, when, broken down by their 
cruelties, he crept away into a corner, that he might dream 
of home, and sleep himself into immortality, where the 
wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 
If, driven by a thirst that burned into his vitals, he ven- 
tured to the sluggish, stagnant water, — to drink which was of 
itself almost sure death, — the sentinel, just to make a little 
excitement, or, as some of them said, for the fun of the 
thing, took deliberate aim, and shot the poor child dead. 
Those fifty thousand did not have a daily ration that would 
keep a little boy alive. Thinner and thinner they grew 
every day. They begged ; they got down on their knees ; 
and, holding up their hands to their masters, they prayed for 
a single crust of bread. But it was all in vain. Though 
the stern, hard heart of the commander of the stockade 
might have melted within him, there were orders in his tent 
which he dared not disobey. Dare you look at that picture 
longer ? ' See those vacant eyes, that only three months 
since were speaking with intelligence ! See that wasted 
frame, oh, so wan and thin ! See those trembling lips ; they 
cannot tell you the name of the regiment to which their 



owner belongs : they cannot speak the soldier's name even, 
for it has been forgotten in the cravings of hunger : they 
cannot lisp the dear words, — mother ^Avife, or child ; for an 
irremediable idiocy has taken possession of him. Was 
there any reason for all this ? Did Confederate soldiers 
have enough to eat ? Was there no food in the South ? 
Plenty, plenty, alas ! brethren: there was more than could 
be used piled up everywhere. What, then, shall I say ? 
That these men were deliberately murdered ? cruelly, wan- 
tonly, basely murdered ? I do say it : I do say that some- 
body is deeply dyed in damning guilt ; that fifty thousand 
men were systematically starved to death, and by some one 
who should be held by the strong arm of the Government 
to a strict account. The graves all over the land, the 
desolate homes, the widowed mothers, the orphaned chil- 
dren of every Northern village, cry out for justice. We 
dare not be heedless of their cry. It is the cry of woe, 
uselessly caused ; and it must be heard in the Supreme 
Court of the land, or the very heavens will thunder out 
against us. 

But who is the guilty party ? Where is he Avho is so base- 
born that he can do this thing ? It is not he who refused the 
food in Andersonville Avhen the dying soldier knelt and 
begged for it. He had his orders, — his verbal or his written 
orders ; orders that did not admit of disobedience. Who 
gave them ? I will tell you. It was Jefferson Davis, — the 
man at the bar. He is the guilty party, and he is solely re- 
sponsible for it all. It could not have been done Avithout 
his consent. And at any time, in a single moment, by a 
stroke of his pen, he might have said. Let this thing cease, 
and it would have euded for ever. He did not say so ; and 
therefore fifty thousand of the bravest and truest* marched 
sloAvly and Avith faltering step, a shadoAvy procession, down 
into the valley of Starvation, and left their bones there. O 
God ! I Avish this were not true. I have lost those dear to 



23 



me in this way, and I can mingle my tears with yours. 
foul, wicked man, what an array of accusations we make 
against you ! Is it for this we have raised you, educated you, 
given you place and honor ? Have we indeed held you to 
our hearts, and warmed you into life, only to be stung by you 
at last? It is even so : it is even so. Say all you can for 
yourself, bring forth every excuse ; for an outraged people are 
looking at you, and are to be your judges. Yes, plead your 
cause eloquently ; for here are charges enough to condemn to 
the severest penalty a whole score of men as vile as men can 
generally be. 

Now, brethren, what shall we say concerning the penalty 
for such accumulated and damning guilt ? I would that we 
might not have been called to answer this question. I M'ish 
some friendly accident, some stray bullet, had put the whole 
matter beyond our reach ; but here the question is, and an 
answer to it we must have. Had the prisoner possessed any 
atom of that spirit which his bold menaces in times past in- 
dicated, had he the pluck of a mouse, he would have 
driven home to his heart the dagger he always carried ; but 
like a coward he was caught in his villany, hidden beneath a 
woman's robes, and pleading for his miserable life. 

I argue this question because the opinion of the commu- 
nity is unformed ; and because there is a cry of magnanimity 
which is likely, if it prevails, to defeat the ends of justice 
altogether. We should be magnanimous : we ought to be 
merciful ; but that is neither the one nor the other, which 
would overlook the crime and release the criminal- The 
America that is to be calls to us ; the children in the cradle 
call to us ; the unborn millions of to-rmorroAV call to us from 
tlie shadows of their hiding-places ; and with one voice they 
say. Be just, and fear not. 

We must say one of two things : first, that the Republic 
knows no penalty for rebellion except the expense of feeding 
Union h-oops as they march over its territory : or, second, 



u 



that America has deci'eed that no rebel leader shall live upon 
her soil ; that she knows how to repay her friends with 
gratitude ; but for those who aim at her life she has nothing, 
absolutely nothing, but the gallows and a grave. These are 
the two possible verdicts. You can have either, — there is 
no compromise between them, — impunity, utter and com- 
plete, or death. 

Now, brethren, society has already fixed the penalty of 
crime. A slight misdeed she repays with imprisonment : a 
deeper guilt she repays with confinement for life : a murder 
she repays with death. This is the code of the civilized 
world. Philosophers and philanthropists have tried to 
change it, but still it stands ; and stand it will for ever. 
Treason against a government, which involves not one life 
but many, stands pre-eminent as the crime of crimes ; still 
the penalty is simply death, as there is no worse punishment 
known to law. Had Booth been caught, what power could 
have reversed the sentence which would have been passed 
by the Military Commission ? What power can reverse the 
sentence to be passed upon the guilty ones in Washington ? 
Can we say to these men. Go oiF! get you gone to Mexico •' 
we do not want your miserable lives : never show your 
faces here again. Can we afford to say that ? Would it 
not be putting a premium upon murder ? Would it not in- 
crease the crime of the country a thousand-fold ? Surely 
there is no doubt upon this point. These men must and 
will be hanged ; and all America will look sadly on, and say, 
It is just. Well, if these men are to be killed, will you, 
can you, let him live ? 

Ah ! but these were common murderers, you say. Fatal, 
fatal distinction ! Common murderers ! Is it, then, so great 
a crime to be a common murderer, and so little a fault to be a 
wholesale murderer ? If I kill one, I am a criminal ; but, 
if I kill a hundred, I am a hero, and no law can reach me. 
John Brown slew a few, and did it in the name of Liberty : 



25 



him we hanged. Jefferson Davis slew fifty thousand in the 
name of Slavery; and him we set free, because, forsooth, the 
Supreme Court can find no indictment against him. Is that 
iaw ? Is that justice ? Nay, is that safety ? I can con- 
ceive of no greater wrong we can do ourselves than to hang 
Harold, and set Davis free. Never hang man again, if he 
escapes his due. 

But, you say, I admit the justice of the sentence ; I only 
doubt its policy : we must look to the moral effect to be 
produced by our action. Assuredly we should. It is a very 
important point. I should be as sensitive there as any of 
you. It is for that very reason that I want this greatest 
criminal executed. I would produce a moral effect upon 
the world by the act. I would point out to Europe two pic- 
tures : first, our maimed soldiers well provided for for life, 
held to our hearts in warmest gratitude ; and, second, the 
place where this man should meet his end. I am one of 
those who think that the moral effect of doing right is not to 
be feared. It cannot be, that, after all these months of woe, 
we have come to study the policy of evading justice. Is it 
absolutely necessary to surround our State criminals with 
impunity, lest Europe should think ill of us ? Whom do 
we fear ? Of whom or what do we stand in dread at such 
a time ? Believe me, brethren, there is but one duty that 
presses down upon us, — to do that and only that ivhich will, 
show our utter detestation of the crime, and our fixed determi- 
nation that it shall never be repeated. You remember the 
conversation of Mr. Davis with one of his officers. " Mr, 
Davis," the officer said, "our cause must be abandoned." 
" Yes," was the reply : " it must be abandoned for the pres- 
ent ; but it will come up again at another time, and in 
another shape." Memorable and warning words ! They 
will be prophetic if we prove ourselves weak in this great 
hour of emergency. What hidden dangers may be lurking 
in the future we know not. When they come, God will 

3 



26 



provide means against them ; but we can and should deter- 
mine, that this cause shall never re-appear in the shape ot 
Jefferson Davis. 

Now, there are several ways in which this criminal may 
be disposed of. Let us look at them, and see what they will 
avail us. 

First, We might confine him for life, either in some 
prison-house, or vipon some island in mid-ocean. We might 
decree in the most solemn way that he shall never again be 
free ; that, under the surveillance of a guard, he shall live 
and die at a distance from the haunts, the hatred, and the 
sympathy of men. This is the appropriate punishment, 
Avithout a doubt. For my own part, I have an exceeding 
great repugnance to the taking of life, and I should be glad 
if such a sentence as this could be carried out. Its moral 
effect — for that seems to be the point aimed at — would be 
incalculable. But the scheme is wholly impracticable, and 
really amounts to a merely temporary imprisonment. Who 
does not know, that it is not next to impossible, but utterly 
impossible, to imprison a man for life in America ? The 
officials change so often, the feelings of the people are so 
volatile, that in a few years the offence is forgotten, a mor- 
bid sympathy for the prisoner is created, and he is set at 
liberty. This scene is enacted every year. A man cannot 
be kept in prison twenty years, if he has influential friends. 

If an assassin should lift his hand against a European 
monarch, he could be confined for life, and the sentence would 
be carried into effects The father whose life was threatened 
would see that the penalty was inflicted, and his son would 
see to it that it was not neglected. It would be a family 
matter, and the outrage would have especial claims upon 
the memory at all times. Not so in this country. No mat- 
ter how much the surface is ruffled, it is all smooth again 
in a moment, and everybody has forgotten the cause of ex- 
citement. I do say, without fear of contradiction, that it is 



2T 



an impossibility to confine this man for life. Scarce ten 
years would elapse before influential friends would be at 
work for his release ; and there is no doubt whatever, that, 
under such circumstances, Davis could spend the latter days 
of his life upon his own plantation in Louisiana, where he 
could sit in security, and sneer at our Government, and aid 
in inciting another rebellion. Are you prepared for that ? 
For one I am not. And I speak not merely in my own 
person, but in the name of all the martyred dead of the four 
bloody years just closed. I am not prepared for that, and 
will never consent to such a sentence. 

Second, "We can banish him. Banish him? To what 
place ? Do you propose to tell him simply, that he must 
not live hereafter on our soil ; that he must go somewhere 
else ? Do you suppose he will have any particular objec- 
tions to such a sentence ? Do you think he has in the last 
two yeai's become so attached to America, that it will be the 
worst conceivable punishment to send him away ? Why, 
brethren, the one thing he most desires is to get out of the 
country. Indeed, he was on his way out when he was cap- 
tured ; and, if he had only been let alone, — a privilege he has 
been demanding some time, — he would never have knocked 
at your door again, my word for it. Well, if you banish 
him, you do for him what he proposed to do for himself; 
the only difference being, yes, the 07ily difference being, that, 
if you had not pursued him, he would have been compelled 
to pay his own passage-money to some European port, 
while now you will pay his passage, and offer him an escort. 

This idea is monstrous. Suppose that the leader of a 
gang of cowardly robbers breaks into a bank whose vault 
contains a hundred bags of gold. He succeeds in steal- 
ing one of the bags, and hands it out to his friends, who 
conceal it in the place of rendezvous. The next night he 
murders the watchman, in order to accomplish his purpose 
better, and steals another bag ; the next night another, 



28 



and so on. Instead of trying the case, and sentencing the 
man for murder in the first degree, suppose the judge should 
say, " Sirrah, you are a bad and dangerous man. You have 
committed a deed at which Justice frowns, and Mercy turns 
her head away to weep ; but I cannot punish you, for fear 
of the moral effect to be produced. You must go beyond 
our lines : you must leave the town, and at once. That is 
your sentence." Well, where does the robber go ? Why, 
to the rendezvous, of course, where his friends are awaiting 
him with a banquet all prepared, and with the bags of gold 
he has stolen. How long would the world hold together 
under such treatment ? I trow not long, friends. 

Well, this is just what you propose to do with Davis. 
His bags of gold are in the Bank of England, sent from 
Richmond to London in a British vessel that ran the block- 
ade. Now he hoped to succeed. But, if that was impos- 
sible, the neoct best thing to success is banishment to the place 
where his booty is concealed, and his friends await him. Is 
it not so? 

But, you say, the remorse. Ah ! brethren, don't depend 
upon remorse to kill that man. Take my word for it, he 
will die of some other disease than that. He can go to 
Europe, buy a splendid villa out of the proceeds of his 
career, and live respected by all the nobility of France and 
England, in whose cause he has been fighting, and in whose 
cause he has been defeated. 

You cannot injure yourselves so much as by passing such 
a sentence. 

There is, then, but one other course to pursue. We ap- 
proach it with hesitation, but with firm step, believing it to 
be the only, yes, the only road to justice. I do not believe 
in harsh measures, my brethren, any more than do you. I 
would to God there were no prison-houses in the land, where 
mortals are shut out from the sweet light of the blessed 
day ! but, before the hour shall come when we can safely do 



29 



away with them, we must make men better than they are 
now. We are not vindictive when Ave close the cell-door 
on a bad man, and leave him to linger out his miserable 
years in darkness. It is the inevitable law and the 
primary condition of all civilization, that these buildings 
shall stand in a row, — the church, the schoolhouse, the 
prison. Nor are we vindictive when we build the gallows for 
the criminals of deepest dye, — knoioing that no other pun- 
ishment will insure the safety of society^ — and, in the name of 
Law, Order, Justice, and the Republic, hang them thereon. 
If this American Government — which has been a blessing 
to millions for three generations, and promises to become an 
equal blessing to larger numbers in the future, nay, promises 
to modify all the monarchies of Europe to such degree that 
the imperial will and the people's will must run side by side 
— has been endangered by the chief leader of a band of po- 
litical adventurers, and can be secured only on condition of 
the non-existence of that man, who would hesitate for a mo- 
ment in his choice between the petty, Avretched life of a base 
ingrate, and the welfare and the good government of the 
nineteenth century ? Would you ? If an assassin had struck 
the life out of your pure girl, and you were morally certain 
that if he were let go free he would do the same deed again 
and again and again, you would not be a worthy father if you 
put yourself between the murderer and justice. Well, then, 
what will we do with this man ? He is confined at Fortress 
Monroe. Go into his cell. Do you find him on his knees, 
Avith hands uplifted, Avith tears streaming doAvn his cheeks, a 
repentant sinner, begging pardon of God, and the hundreds 
of thousands of glorious dead Avho would be here to-day but 
for him ? Is there the least sign of sorroAv visible for what 
he has done ? No, oh no ! He is dejected and sullen and 
bent and Avorn. But he is dejected only because he has 
failed, and does not know the consequence of his enormities, 
though he fears it. He is Avorn and gray ; but in whose ser- 

3* 



30 



vice ? for what cause ? For you, for me, for any good cause 
known to man ? Nay, but only because he has given all 
his energies to compass our ruin ; because he has been fight- 
ing for four years, against the providence of Almighty God, 
in the endeavor to re-establish feudalism and slavery. That 
providence has defeated him at every corner, in every 
scheme, and at last delivered him into our hands. God 
says, in all the history of the past, in all the successes of the 
one party, and all the cruelties and defeats of the other, 
This man I give into your hands. Do justice upon him, nor 
dare to do one jot or tittle less. I think that is the word 
of God. But what is that justice ? This, and only this : 

To convene a proper body of men to try him ; to open 
every session of the court with prayer ; to bring this pris- 
oner into the solemn presence of the representatives of 
American institutions and liberty ; to summon witnesses 
from all quarters of the globe, at whatever expense ; to sift 
this plan, this base conspiracy, to the bottom, to the very 
bottom ; to follow any and every channel that can lead to 
light ; to publish this evidence to the whole civilized world, 
that they may see who and what these conspirators are. I 
would arraign this man on a charge of High Treason 
against the Government and the people of America. We 
cannot afford to try him on a simple charge of complicity 
with the recent murder ; that is but a by-play in the tragedy, 
a side-issue, a natural and necessary sequence of the purpose 
which prompted the first blow. I would give him as good 
counsel as could be procured. I would allow eloquence to 
plead in his behalf. Then, when convicted, — for the bulk of 
evidence is overwhelming, and no jury could resist the inevi- 
table verdict of "Guilty," — I would have him removed to 
the old Bull-Run battle-field, where this dreadful, useless war 
was inaugurated, and there hang him until he was dead. 
Over his gallows I would put the State motto of Virginia, 
which for the first time would have any significance, — 
" Sic semper Tyrannis." 



31 



Thus, brethren, would I deal with Jefferson Davis. Thus 
would I free the country from the baneful presence of a man 
who has been plotting our ruin ever since he was a boy, and 
who, if ever allowed his liberty, will plot our ruin again. 
The past, which gave us a country, will sustain us in the 
action. With all its blood and sacrifices, ending gloriously 
in an independence which meant freedom, the schoolhouse, 
the church, and the welfare of the humblest as well as of 
the highest, it calls upon us to insure the security of this 
Government by our act. The present, with its years of 
chivalry ; its crimson deeds of daring of which the Sir 
Knights of ancient times would have been proud ; its sacri- 
fice of men ; its women's tears and prayers, — demands this 
thing of us. The future, with all its hopes, whose corner- 
stones are being built to-day ; with all its prophecies that 
this country shall yet be the home of patriots, gathered from 
every part of the world ; with all its assurance, that a people, 
educated, protected in all their rights by immutable laws, 
self-governed, may be trusted far beyond the confidence we 
place in princes and in rulers, all — all, with one voice — 
demand that this great crime be ended here and now, and 
buried in the grave the hangman digs for him who perjured 
himself at the capitol ; who leagued to burn our cities while 
we slept ; who hired the assassin's arm that robbed us of our 
President ; who wrote the order by which tens of thousands 
were starved to death, and who has been caught in the midst 
of his crimes, plotting more and worse, and is now a prisoner 
at the bar, awaiting sentence. Remember, there is safety 
only in one course. 

Stand forth, Jefferson Davis ! There are only two words 
to tell your story with, — 

• Treason, 

Death ; 
And may God have mercy on your soul ! 



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